The Seattle Times May 29, 2007

HEADLINE: Editorial: Alliance rights its ship

The Seattle School District's biggest booster has been missing in action, but the Alliance for Education is emerging from its cocoon.

A long-overdue infusion of energy and restructuring efforts are under way at the Alliance. Patrick D'Amelio took over the nonprofit organization six months ago after running the Big Brothers Big Sisters of King & Pierce Counties. Rebuilding frayed relations and raising the visibility of the Alliance are at the top of D'Amelio's list. A third of the staff will be laid off as part of an effort to make the agency more streamlined and focused.

The moves are welcome signs.

In the midst of the district's financial and emotional turmoil, the question kept coming up: Where's its strongest ally?

The Alliance was largely quiet as major funders, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, withdrew or reduced support for the city schools. District financial managers warned of impending bankruptcy, and City Hall and the state Legislature threatened to intervene.

Meanwhile, the Alliance was undergoing its own turmoil.

Critics charged the agency used funding to push its academic agenda. A key indicator the Alliance had lost steam came after last year's annual A+ Gala Dinner & Auction raised just $644,000 for literacy programs and other educational initiatives. In previous years, the event could be counted on to raise $1 million in an evening.

Patricia Wasley, dean of the University of Washington College of Education, resigned from the Alliance's board out of frustration over the agency's inactivity. When founding president Robin Pasquarella stepped down, she prescribed new energy for the organization.

The biggest blow came when the Gates Foundation chose not to renew a $26 million grant to Seattle's schools. The Alliance was responsible for the management and effective use of the funds, which paid for a variety of learning efforts in struggling schools.

Gates officials said they were supporting schools that "have a really good record of improvement, have enjoyed stable and effective leadership, and had a really good plan going forward."

"None of those apply in Seattle," then foundation executive director Tom Vander Ark told The Seattle Times. That was then. D'Amelio ushers in a favorable change.

Since 1995, the Alliance has led a collaboration between the business community and Seattle schools that has brought in more than $90 million. It is a relationship worth sustaining.